Whispering Zero, City of the Dead

by Aetaes Wolf

Friendly Foe

Whisper blinks her eyes open as light filter in through the window. She puts her hoof to her head, looking around. Her vision was blurred, her head pounding. Whisper rubs her eyes, blinking until her vision returned to normal. The room around her seemed to be a bedroom, it was quite large, the large windows letting in the sunlight. The bed she was laying on was in the middle of the room, pushed back against the wall. Two end tables stood beside both sides of the bed, a lamp on each. What she guessed was a closet was near the far end of the room, a door at the other end. Whisper looks around. It's quite.... Clean. That's..... Surprising. It's weird. She quietly gets up, wincing a bit as she puts weight on her hind leg. She sits, looking over her wound. Fresh bandages are wrapped around her leg, covering the wound. She blinks, taking another look around. Did.... Did somepony help me...?

Whisper carefully stands, keep as little weight off her leg as possible. Her ears perk as hoovesteps are heard coming from outside the room. She carefully makes her way to the door, opening it a crack. Her eyes widen as a hunter stands outside, the hood of its hoodie pulled up to cover its face, the sun shining on its mahogany coloured coat. She slowly takes a few steps away from the door. Did whoever helped me turn into a fucking zombie!? She lets out a gasp as its gaze turns to her, locking onto her. It begins to walk toward her, Whisper's breath becomes hoarse as she quickly looks for an escape. Noting the open window, she darts toward, attempting to take flight. Though she becomes airborne, she crashes down to the floor. She stand ups, now realizing the pain shooting through her right wing and the bandages around it. Panic strikes her, as she has no way out and the hunter is getting closer to her. She attempts to run to the window, falling over as she puts to much weight on her injured leg. She shuts her eyes tight, tears running down her cheeks as her fear begins to set in. She could only pray that however it killed her, it did it quickly.

Silence filled the room, for what seemed like hours. Whisper felt something nudging her. Allowing whatever it was to have its way, it nudged her up so she was now sitting. She listened as hoovesteps walked around her so it was in front of her. She could feel somepony nudging her lightly with their muzzle, whoever it was seemed to be trying to comfort her. The pony pulls away, Whisper open her eyes. The hunter sat in front of her. It had pulled down its hood to reveal its face. Its mane was medium length, coloured pitch black. Its eyes were pure yellow, it had no iris, no pupils, just pure yellow eyes. Whisper blinks. "Wh-what....."

The hunter lifts up its hoof, wiping the tears away from her eyes, giving a comforting smile. Whisper's eyes widen, realizing that in its own way, it was telling her not to be afraid. Whisper covers her mouth with her hoof. Did.... Did this hunter help me!?!!?! Whisper clears her throat, attempting not to sound frightened, even though she was terrified. "Did... Did you help me..?"

The hunter gives a nod. Whisper blinks, tilting her head at the hunter. This one seems to understand me. Or its the first one to actually listen to me. She slowly rises, taking a few steps forward to get a better look at the hunter. From the looks of it, the hunter was a stallion, just a bit older than her. The hunter tilts his head as she studies him. Whisper sits down, fear now replaced with confusion. "So you helped me.... Looked after me.... But for what purpose?"

The hunter stands there for a few moments before going and closing the door, turning to look back at Whisper. Whisper sighs. Alright, he still can't talk. Whisper moves to the bed, laying down to let her injured leg rest. The hunter walks to the edge of the bed, looking over Whisper's wounds. Whisper lets out a breath as he does so. "I'm going have to call you something.... I can't be calling you "Hunter" all the time."

The hunter looks at her, tilting his head. Whisper thinks for a moment. "How about I call you Zero?"

The hunter sits down, opening his mouth. "Z... Z... Ze... ro....... Zero......" He smiles. "Zero!"

Whisper's eyes widen in surprise. Did... Did he just.... talk!? "Say it again!"

"Zero! Zero!" The hunter motions to himself. "Zero!"

Whisper smiles. "Yes! That's your name!"

Zero grins, looking to Whisper. His eyes asking "What's your name?"

Whisper motions to herself. "I'm Whispering Wind. Or Whisper. Whisper."

Zero tilts his head a bit. "W... Whi.... Whisper.... Whisper!"

Whisper grins, letting out a small giggle. "Yes! Whisper! That's my name!"

Zero smiles. "Whisper! Whisper!"

Whisper giggles a bit more. She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed at all. The hunter in front of her seemed to enjoy making her giggle, seeing as it kept her fear away. While Whisper couldn't understand why Zero had saved her, right now, she was just happy that he did. That he didn't kill her. It may take a while before she is able to fly, before she is able to return to her cloud home, to her sister. But right now, that doesn't seem to matter. Whisper found a new friend, even though he was one of the infected. For the moment, everything seemed a lot brighter then it did before.

Author's Note:

Writing a bunch of things at once. Yay! Updates may be a bit slow, since I seem to be writing multiple stories at the same time right now. More fun for me!

Comments

[CyanDoodles]

Allright! Let's get started!

First of all, cover art is cute, so points to that!

Second, the characters are decently enjoyable and connectable, and the touches of humor certinly help! Plus another point!

Third, the obvious influince is obvious, but not specifically played out despite zombie types. I neither give nor take away points.

The cutsie interaction between the main characters (especially with Zero) definitely gains a point!

The chapter leangths are great! Hope you keep them up! Point added!

And last, just this premise alone seams great! And the little wink at the use of the word 'pounce' made me giggle.

As of right now, you have 5/6 points, in all a decent fic that could, with plenty of effort, zoom into my all time faves! (Extra Credit: .2 point!)

Overall Grade: B!

I hope to see more!
~Cyan